MARGUERITE WALLS

AGE

DATE

PLACE

OUTCOME

LAST ATTACK

47

August 20 1980Wednesday night11:00 pm

Leeds

Murdered

353 days

Marguerite Walls was a forty-seven-year-old civil servant who worked at the Department of
Education and Science office in Pudsey. She had worked late on Wednesday, August 20 1980, working
extra hours as she was going on a ten-day holiday the following day. She left her office between 9:30 pm
and 10:30 pm to walk the half mile to her home in Farsley, a suburb of Leeds. Meanwhile, Peter
Sutcliffe was driving through Farsley on his way to Chapeltown when he spotted Marguerite Walls
walking towards him.

Sutcliffe parked his car and proceeded to quickly catch up and overtake her over a distance
of about 400 yards. Near a driveway with high stone pillars, he stunned her with a hammer blow
to the back of the head, shouting "filthy prostitute" as he struck further blows to her head. He then
looped a length of rope around her neck, tightening it as he half-carried, half-dragged her about
20 yards from the point of attack up the driveway and into a high-walled garden. There, while kneeling
on her chest, he strangled her. After she was dead, he stripped her of all her clothing except
her tights. When he left her, he partially covered the body with grass cuttings and leaves.

Marquerite Walls body was found the next day by two gardeners, her shoes found in the
driveway, and her skirt, shopping bag and chequebook found near a rockery close to the garden.
Detective Chief Superintendent James Hobson, after consultation with forensic experts announced:
"We do not believe this is the work of the Yorkshire Ripper." While there were obvious Ripper-like
elements to the attack, the use of a ligature (never used in a known Ripper attack before), and the lack
of stab wounds, appeared to suggest a new, different killer.

Peter Sutcliffe's use of the length of rope to strangle Marguerite Walls had been a conscious
effort to change his method of attack to mislead the police and downplay the Yorkshire Ripper police
and media fervour. With the police suggesting this was a local killing, and the murder being downplayed
in the Press due to it not being considered a Ripper attack, were obvious indications Sutcliffe had
succeeded, and the Yorkshire Ripper was still considered in a "dormant" stage.

(When asked whether he was responsible for the murder of Marguerite Walls): "No, that wasn't me.
You have a mystery on your hands with that one. I've only used the rope once on that girl at
Headingley (Upadhya Bandara)."

(Statement to police, January 5 1981. Source: Bilton.)

"I was on my way to Leeds, with a view to killing a prostitute, when I saw that this woman was walking
towards me at a distance of about sixty yards. She disappeared around a corner on my left, so I slowed
down and turned into this particular road. I was already in some kind of a rage and it was just unfortunate
for her that she was where she was at the time, 'cos I parked the car and got out and followed her along
the road. "

"Having caught up with her over a distance of three or four hundred yards, I let her have it with a
hammer, I hit her on the head, it seems as though there was a voice inside my head saying, 'Kill, kill, kill',
and as I hit her I shouted, 'You filthy prostitute.'"

"There was nobody else about, but as she was on the pavement, I dragged her inside a gateway
quite a few yards, in what appeared to be someone's garden. Round about this time somebody walked
pass the entrance, I don't know whether they had seen me or not, because they appeared to look in.

I didn't have a knife on me this time, but I had a length of cord which I strangled her with. I removed
her clothes and I was going to leave her in an obvious position for people to see, but round about this
time the road outside started to be quite busy with pedestrians going back and forth. I changed my
mind and covered her up with some straw instead."

(Where he placed her body): "In the far corner of the garden near a wall. I was very upset again
after this time, I knew I couldn't do anything to prevent myself carrying on killing. The inner torment
was unimaginable, because, as strange as it may seem, I never wanted to kill anybody at all, I just had
to get rid of all the prostitutes whether I liked it or not."

(Why he denied responsibility for this attack when questioned about it on January 5 1981): "Because
when I was questioned initially I knew I was in such deep water through killing through the method I
normally use, that this would possibly open completely new lines of enquiry into other murders which
could have been committed and which I knew I hadn't done."

"I thought that maybe it would be better to sort this out at a later date, when I had cleared up all the
other matters, and having denied it first, it would have made matters worse at the time if I had changed
my mind again. Nothing I would have said could have been taken seriously, this is why I'm making a true
account of everything and every detail."

(About the use of a length of rope): "Because the press and the media had attached a stigma to me, I
had been known for some time as the Yorkshire Ripper, which to my mind, didn't ring true at all. It was
just my way of killing them, but actually I found that the method of strangulation was even more horrible
and took longer."

(After using the rope again on Upadhya Bandara): "This is when I decided I couldn't kill people like
this. I couldn't bear to go through with it again, as there was something deep inside preventing me."

(Statement to police, January 26 1981. Source: Bilton.)

"I was on my way to Leeds primed with weapons for the mission. She lifted her leg up, put it
down and then lifted it up again. She looked like a prostitute and was walking at a snail's pace. I
killed her with no doubt. The voice shouted 'Filthy prostitute'. It wasn't like my voice, it was filthy and
angry. Not like me. I don't get angry. I knew it was me who had done what I had done with my own
hands, and when I get into the depression this happens."

(Statement to Dr Milne, read out in court during his trial. Source: The Times.)